Eric Schaffer

Eric Schaffer founded HFI in 1988 and, over the last quarter century, has become known as the visionary who identified usability as the driving force in the Third Wave of the Information Age—following hardware, then software as the previous key differentiators. Eric recognized that the most profound impact on corporate computing would be the result of a positive online user experience—the ability for a user to get a job done efficiently, easily, and without frustration. His book Institutionalization of Usability: A Step-by-Step Guide provides a roadmap companies can follow to make usability a systematic, routine practice throughout an organization. Eric co-developed HFI’s Schaffer-Weinschenk Method, the only ISO-certifiable process for user-centered design, which builds on principles from human-computer interaction, ergonomics, psychology, computer science, and marketing. He has completed projects for more than 100 Fortune 500 clients, providing user experience design consulting and training. Recently, Eric has been traveling the world teaching HFI’s newest course, “How to Design for Persuasion, Emotion, and Trust.” He is a member of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society and a Certified Professional Ergonomist. Eric earned his PhD in “Applied Psychology specializing in Human Performance”—aka usability—from Stevens Institute of Technology.